Unholy Matrimony
by katzklaw
Summary: Vlad's getting married? Strange dreams and stranger behavior haunt Vlad and confuse everyone who knows him.
1. Prologue

PROLOGUE

_Darkness swirls at the edges of consciousness and fills the corners of the room with a sense of foreboding. Vlad Masters, his normally fine clothes filthy and torn, kneels with a hand outstretched, fear etched on his face. The object of his attention lies on the other side of his laboratory: Daniel Fenton cowering against a wall with a horrible freakish specter floating over him._

"_No! Stop!" shouts Vlad franticly. The flame-haired teenage-bodied ghost turns to face him with a sneer and temporarily forgets his previous target, flying toward the prone Vlad. As he floats across the room he seems to age before Vlad's eyes, finally stopping right in front of him with the appearance of a well-built young adult. The white flames dancing on his head match the madness dancing in his red eyes, and worst of all, in the center of his chest lies the ghostly D and P symbol, the emblem supposed to belong to Danny Phantom._

_He laughs mercilessly down at Vlad. "What's the matter, old man? Did you loose your precious little GIFT?"_

_The monster's words shock Vlad back into action, and he concentrates for a moment, trying to call up the power within himself. Nothing happens. The ghost laughs at the surprise evident on Vlad's face, then backhands him against the wall, flying in close before he had a chance to recover from the hit._

"_All those years you HATED Jack for what he did to you," he growled in Vlad's face, then drew back with a cool self-satisfied smile, "but now you'd give ANYTHING to have it all back, wouldn't you?" The ghost began laughing, and the mad cackle grew in volume till it drowned out all other sounds or thoughts. An explosion rocked the castle, washing over Vlad and Danny, sweeping the whole castle, blowing huge chunks of masonry far away into the clear sky..._

Vlad Masters bolts straight up out of his bed, dripping in sweat and panting as if he had just run a marathon. He scans his dark bedroom with wide staring eyes, searching for anything amiss. "Just a dream," he says to himself between gasps, "just a horrible nightmare."


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The warm early-summer sun beats down on the heads of Danny, Sam, and Tucker as the three friends make their way home from school for the last time before break. They chat about the adventures they had this year, and what a year! Gaining "super" powers, fighting ghosts, being hated and loved in turn by your own town? Not something easily forgotten! But inevitably the conversation turns to the future, even if only the immediate one.

Danny turns to his two friends, "So, what are you guys doing for the summer?"

At the mention of his question, Sam gets a disgusted look on her face. "My parents seem to think it'll do me some good to go away to..." she pauses and shudders, "camp."

Danny and Tucker wince in unison. "Harsh!"

A few steps later, Tucker voices his plan for summer break, "My dad has work plans, so I have some time free to just play video games. How about you?" He turns to Danny with a grin to hear what his friend was doing for the summer.

"Well, I..." Danny starts, but then his voice trails off into silence as he reaches his driveway to the sight of his dad throwing suitcases into the Fenton RV. The three friends exchange baffled looks for a few seconds before Danny ventures to speak.

"Um, Dad? What's going on?" he asks.

Jack Fenton, ever enthusiastic, pops his head out the door of the RV and exclaims, "Can't chat! Gotta pack!" His expression suddenly changes to a skeptical one, and he squints at his son, "Hey... are you done packing?"

Totally confused now, Danny's only answer was another question, "Packing?"

A huge silly grin spreads across Jack's face and his enthusiasm returns anew, "Yup! We're going to my buddy Vladdie's place for the week! He's getting married!"

Three identical expressions of shock stare back at an oblivious Jack. "Married?" all three voices ask in unison.

Jack, ignoring the tones of their voices, hops behind the wheel of the RV, squints at himself in the rear-view mirror and replies with a smile, "Yup! And I'm gonna be the best man!"

Danny's eyebrows climb so high in surprise and confusion that they disappear totally under his unkempt mess of black hair. Sam and Tucker share similar expressions. The tension and silence of the moment are broken by Maddie, dashing out the door, bags in hand. As she starts stuffing them into the RV, Jazz follows with an exasperated look on her face.

"Mo-o-om!" she says in frustration. Maddie turns to her daughter with a bright smile and responds, "There you are, sweetie! All packed!" She notices Danny and turns to face him, "Hi Danny!"

Hearing his own name brings Danny back to earth, and he blinks back at his mother. "Mom?"

Jazz, still obviously exasperated over the whole situation, crosses her arms and asks "Maybe Danny and I could just stay together...at home?"

Maddie, still bouncing around loading up the RV with various bags and suitcases, responds brightly "Oh, don't be silly! The invitation said to bring 'the whole family'."

Sam raises one eyebrow. "Why does camp suddenly not look so bad anymore?" she asks quietly, with just a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Jazz rolls her eyes and leans in close to Danny. "Danny, help me out here." she whispers to him.

"Umm... uh..." he stutters for a moment, still off balance, "um, Dad? Jazz does have a point." he finally managed.

Jack stops fiddling with the rear-view mirror for a moment, slight puzzlement on his face, "She does?" not even a beat later his excitement returns and he exclaims "Yes! She does!" With that, he jumps out from behind the wheel and bolts into the house surprisingly quickly for one so large, and returns a few moments later holding Danny's bags, apparently packed by his mother. He flings the bags in the back, slams the door shut, and heads back to the driver's door again, saying "She can't watch out for you if you aren't packed and ready to go!"

Jazz and Danny both sigh in defeat and climb in to find their seats. Maddie is the last to hop in, and she waves down to the two left standing on the sidewalk, "Bye Sam! Bye Tucker! Alright, lets go!"

Sam and Tucker watch the RV pull away, then turn to each other and share a brief "glad I'm not Danny" glance.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_Vlad Masters, dressed in a crisp pristine white lab coat and surgical mask, bustles around his secret laboratory in his castle's basement checking various dials and gages. His ghost portal, looking like nothing so much as the worlds largest metric nut sitting on end, remains tightly shut, and a familiar figure with upswept bright red hair lies strapped down to a table. Penelope Spectra fidgets impatiently underneath her bonds, randomly shifting between her human-appearing form and her black spectral form and back again, without any apparent thought, or control, on her part. Vlad turns to regard her with an impassively curious glance._

"_You know, this will most likely be quite painful," he remarks matter-of-factly to her._

_Spectra grimaces, and shoots back "I don't care. It will be well worth it! Let's get this over with."_

_A slightly malevolent grin spreads across Vlad's narrow features, "Ahhh, that's the spirit!" Vlad turns to face his instruments again, and begins to flip switches and turn dials. Machinery and electronics begin to hum as they power up. Just as Vlad throws the final switch, the doors to his ghost portal pop open unexpectedly, and a familiar blue figure pokes his head through._

"_I am the Box Ghost!..." shouts the new arrival. An electrical crackle from the control panel next to Spectra's bed interrupts his signature cry, then the whole assembly seems to explode in a soundless fury of colors, bathing the room and everyone in it temporarily with a kaleidoscopic glow. As the glow fades, each person's reaction is different: Spectra finally seems to be cemented into reality, no longer shifting away from a human form, Vlad looks as if he had suddenly had a thousand different emotions hit him all at once, and the Box Ghost stares apathetically at the once again dim room, "...who cares?"_

_An unseen observer watched the whole scene unfold, and having satisfied himself that everything happened the way it should turns his attention to more pressing matters. Clockwork turned away from his time-view portal just as the image of the Box Ghost's head disappearing back into the ghost zone fades away and gazes down contemplatively at the much dented white and green thermos in his hands. As many dents as the thermos already had, Clockwork knew it wouldn't be able to restrain its contents for too much longer._

"_Everything is proceeding according to plan." he remarks, partly to himself, partly directed at the thermos. "You needn't wait much longer." Almost as if in response, another dent appears in the abused thermos' side. Clockwork turns to gaze at the now dark portal, "Yes, not much longer at all."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _

Two days later finds the Fenton RV making its way up the long driveway to the elegant castle owned by Vlad (former home of the legendary Dairy King, don'tcha know!). Danny and Jazz sit together in the back, quietly discussing what they might expect from this most dangerous of Danny's foes.

Danny smiles semi-confidently at Jazz as he tucks a Fenton thermos away into his backpack, "Ok, we have everything we could possibly need, and we're ready for anything." he remarks quietly to her as they climb out. His grin fades to confusion, however, at the sudden shout "HEADS UP!"

A football drops neatly into a startled Jack's hands, and moments later he's bowled clean off his feet...by Vlad!

"Anything..." Danny stammers to an equally shocked Jazz, "but that."


	4. Chapter 3

_Author's note: the italic text within the story describes "spash pages" like the way many Danny Phantom episodes depict fight scenes. I actually drew one of them, a link to which can be found in my profile. If anyone else wants to draw the other three, feel free! (lol)_

Chapter 3

Danny, Jazz, and Maddie all stand in front of the Fenton RV, gawking at a truly bizarre spectacle: Jack, flat on his back, clutching a football with Vlad sprawled atop him, disheveled hair flying wildly, free of its customary ponytail. Before anyone has a chance to recover from their shock, Vlad leaps back to his feet and snatches the football back up from Jack, tossing up into the air and catching it again with a smile and a flourish.

"Jack my man!" he booms in a jovial voice, devoid of any hints of the hatred he previously held for his old college friend, "I see you still got the old moves! Come on, lets go play!" he waves the football enticingly before Jack's eyes. As Jack picks himself up off the ground, Penelope Spectra appears in the doorway.

"But Dear," she points out, "you're still wearing your suit. You'll ruin it." Jazz and Danny trade shocked looks as Vlad ponders that for a moment, then his face brightens with a genuine-looking smile and he points a finger at Spectra.

"You're right!" he exclaims, "Here!" and with that, he strips off his suit-jacket, pale grey hair waving in the breeze in a very Fabio-esque manner, and tosses it into Spectra's waiting hands. He grabs Jack and they run off toward the football field around the back of the castle. Maddie, Danny, and Jazz watch them go, open-mouthed in surprise. Maddie, the first to recover, then turns to face Spectra with a skeptical squint and plants her fists on her hips.

"So...where's Vlad?"

Spectra sighs quietly, and motions everyone to follow her inside. Maddie and Spectra chat quietly as they walk in, Jazz and Danny watching their every move like hawks. After a few minutes of nothing spectacular happening though, they're both bored. Jazz leans in close to Danny and whispers to him "Do you think Dad's ok?"

_Vlad stands with one foot planted in the middle of a laid-out Jack's back and spikes a touchdown into the end zone. (see image)_

_Jack, holding a football, body-checks Vlad into the goal post._

_Jack lies flat on his back, Vlad running up and over him like a ramp._

_Jack runs clean over Vlad, planting his face in the grass._

Spectra's smiling face suddenly appears in between the two of them, causing both of them to jump.

"I'm sure Vlad and your father are just fine." she purrs at them. Danny and Jazz exchange worried glances as Spectra withdraws to chat with Maddie again. Maddie greets her with a frown that's a mixture of confusion and slight suspicion.

"So...how did you and Vlad meet?"

Spectra's eyes roll toward the ceiling briefly, apparently lost deep in thought for a moment. "Oh," she starts, then her gaze drops to focus on Danny, and she smiles at him. "Danny, could you be a dear and take this down to the laundry room for me?" she says as she hands him the suit-jacket she was still holding. Danny scowls back at her, the unpleasant memories of the last time he was sent off on an 'errand' in this house springing to his mind.

"Oh no, I'm not falling for..oof!" he suddenly cuts off, having been elbowed in the ribs rather hard by Jazz. She grabs him by the arm before he can recover and pipes up, "Danny really shouldn't be wandering around such a large house by himself, I'll go with him!" With that, she takes off, practically dragging Danny along with her.

Maddie and Spectra watch them go, one with an expression still laced with slight suspicion, one with a wistful smile that fades away to a hint of remorse. Still staring down the hall after them, Spectra remarks "What wonderful children you have, Madeline."

Maddie smiles somewhat uncertainly, "Thank you, and you can call me Maddie, if you'd like."

Spectra's smile brightens again, "Thank you, Maddie. Vlad tells me that you and Jack are ghost hunters?"

At the mention of her favorite subject, all suspicions are forgotten, and Maddie smiles enthusiastically, "Why yes!"

"He also said you've even vanquished a ghost in this very house?" Spectra continued.

"Oh yes!" responds Maddie, ecstatic at the chance to talk about ghosts, "That happened during our class reunion..." Maddie goes on and on and on about the class reunion, Jack, and the Wisconsin Ghost, totally forgetting that her own question had never been answered.

----------------------------------------------------

Danny and Jazz wander down a long hallway, trying to find the laundry room and glad of the chance to talk to each other alone. Jazz ponders for a moment, then remarks to Danny "Now according to your files, Spectra is a ghost, and she feeds off negative emotions to keep herself looking young, and..." Jazz pauses for a second and scowls, "...she tried to kill me!"

Danny glares back at her indignantly, "Hey! Didn't I tell you to stay out of my computer!"

Jazz rolls her eyes and replies "This is serious, Danny, we can talk about your privacy rights later. Now, Spectra is a ghost, right?"

Danny smirks, "Yeah..." sarcasm and annoyance practically drip from that single word. "why?" he continues in a much more normal tone of voice.

"Then why hasn't your ghost sense gone off?" Jazz asks, arms crossed.

Danny blinks a few times in sudden surprise, "Huh?"

"I've been watching, and I haven't seen your breath the whole time we've been here. See? Having me around is helpful!" Jazz smiles proudly.

"Uh oh! That is not good!" Danny shoots back in a worried tone, "The only way she wouldn't trigger my ghost sense is either if she weren't a ghost anymore, or if she's figured out some way to block it."

"But how..." Jazz starts, then Danny's and Jazz's eyes both fly wide as the same thought hits them at the same moment...

"VLAD!"


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 

Several hours later, Danny and Jazz sit, bored, in a pair of overstuffed armchairs in one of the myriad rooms of Vlad's castle, still quietly discussing what could possibly be going on here even though they ran out of original ideas a while ago. In her boredom, Jazz idly made note of the fact that apparently Vlad finally had gotten a decorator, for while the outside of the castle was still decorated in Packer's green and gold, the interior now had a distinct "woman's touch". They bolt to sudden attention as Jack and Vlad burst into the room laughing, looking bruised, battered, and filthy, but thoroughly happy...and totally oblivious to the pair of skeptical suspicious glares pointed their direction.

Spectra enters with a smile, "Come on, boys. Maddie's been helping me in the kitchen, we have hot cocoa and fudge bars waiting for you!"

They both suddenly can't wipe the goofy grins off their faces, "Mmmmmmm! Fudge!" And with that, they both dash off toward the kitchen.

Danny and Jazz give Spectra identical defiant glares, arms crossed. "What did you do to Vlad?"

At their question, Spectra's bright smile fades, and she suddenly looks quite dejected. She looks from Danny to Jazz and back again, then sighs. "After what I've done...to both of you...you have no reason to believe me, but..."

_flashback_

_Vlad Plasmius floats cross-armed in the endless chaos of the ghost zone, looking as if we were waiting for someone. After several long moments, Spectra, in her black ghostly form, floats up to meet him. He stares impassively at her for a moment, then finally breaks the silence. "You wanted to discuss a deal with me?"_

_Spectra nods back to him, "Yes. I've heard you have a little...issue...with Jack Fenton?"_

_Plasmius raises an eyebrow at her, skeptical and curious at the same time. In that short pause, Spectra morphs to a human-looking form, then back again to her ghostly form. With frustration showing in her face, she continues, "If you help me regain a stable form, I'll help you...take care... of Jack."_

_Plasmius scowls in irritation, "What makes you think I want him dead?" Having Jack Fenton dead would be nice, but utter humiliation would be SO much more satisfying!_

_Spectra chuckles dryly and shoots back "Who said I was going to kill him? I can lure him away from Maddie, leaving her open to the attentions of..." she pauses and grins evilly at him "...someone else."_

_Plasmius eyes Spectra skeptically again as she continues, "After all, thanks to a dirty trick played on me by young Danny, no one knows Jack Fenton better than I do." On the tails of her last few words, she shifts into a fat, square-jawed human form._

_Plasmius raises an eyebrow again, more curious now than skeptical, "Hmmmmm..."_

"...But something went wrong during the procedure," Spectra continues, "and as near as I can figure, I was turned back into a human. I can't do anything even remotely ghostly anymore, and now I realize how horrible I was to you kids, and I'm sorry."

Danny and Jazz glance at each other in slight confusion for a moment, but Spectra continues talking, "The accident changed Vlad somehow, too...he didn't act like the same man. He's less reserved than he was... and he started getting horrible nightmares! The same thing, every night...but he would never tell me about them... just that it was the same thing over and over..."

_flashback_

_Vlad Masters and Spectra stand in Vlad's library. Spectra paces, apparently lost in thought, while Vlad watches, his expression unreadable._

_Spectra turns to Vlad, "So, how will we lure them here?"_

"_We won't" he replies simply, drawing a shocked "What!" from her._

"_I've spent the greater part of my life pining away after Maddie and hating Jack for what he did to me," Vlad says, staring at nothing in particular, "I should have been thankful for the gift of my powers, despite the pain I had to suffer to get them!" he says with a bit more passion, then he pauses for a moment, and continues confidently, "Besides...I'm rich, powerful, I could have any woman I want."_

"_Except Maddie..." Spectra replies in a mocking tone._

_Vlad suddenly sobers for a moment and ponders. "True..."_

_Vlad turns to face Spectra with fire in his eyes and a chillingly evil smile on his face, "But I can have you!"_

"So what does that have to do with us?" Danny is the first to respond, followed close by his sister, "Yeah, why are we here?"

Spectra laughs and pulls a spare invitation from her pocket and hands it to Danny. "Hello? It's a wedding! Your father is the best man, and your mother is the matron of honor."

Danny blinks in confusion, "What? You mean that was all real?"

Spectra smiles and pokes Danny in the chest with one finger "Of course. And you're the ring bearer!" she winks, then turns to walk away. Spectra pauses for a moment, then looks back over her shoulder, "Besides, Vlad was right... he is quite the catch." she concludes, then walks off, leaving Danny and Jazz alone. They look at each other and cringe in unison. "Umm, ewww!"

------------------------------------------------

It's a beautiful day for a wedding. Bells ring and soft organ music plays over Vlad's football field. Vlad spared no expense to turn this into a wonderful outdoor chapel. Chairs draped in white bows and flowers dot the field, and a rose-covered trellis-arch stands centered on the 50 yard line. A tuxedoed Vlad, looking even more elegant than he normally does, stands waiting under the arch, smiling at Spectra in a while dress slowly making her way toward him. Jack and Maddie, Danny and Jazz all stand in their appropriate places, smiling.

"Well, this isn't so bad after all." Jazz comments quietly, mostly to herself.

Danny's smile fades and he glances around nervously. He just can't shake the feeling that something is wrong. He leans over to Jazz and quietly mutters "I've got a really bad feeling something bad is about to happen..." On his last word, a small puff of blue-white drifts from Danny's mouth, and the ground begins to rumble and split. "Oh no..."

With an evil cackle, Dan bursts up from the ground right in the middle of the wedding, scattering chairs and guests every which way. Before anyone has any chance to react he blasts Maddie, Jack and Jazz into unconsciousness. Guests begin to panic and run, screaming in terror, while Vlad stands wide-eyed, temporarily paralyzed in shock, quietly saying to himself "He's real... It wasn't just a dream...He's real!"

Having taken care of the three people he thought who could have actually helped out in fighting him, Dan turned his attentions to Danny: he flies over to Danny and grabs him by the front of his suit, hoisting him into the air, right into his face.

"Payback time!" Dan snarls.


	6. Chapter 5

_There's another picture associated with this chapter, but don't go look at it till you reach that part of the story! And sorry for the cop-out (you'll know it when you see it!) If anyone feels up to drawing the awesomeness, go right ahead!_

Chapter 5

The wedding is ruined. Chairs and flowers lie scattered like broken toys, while Maddie, Jack, and Jazz all lie unconscious. Dan stands in the middle of it all, cackling evilly and holding Danny aloft. Danny squirms about in his grip, and then...

"Going ghost!" The familiar rings form and begin sweeping up Danny's body, but they stop suddenly as Danny begins screaming! Dan stops shocking Danny and flings him to the ground like a rag doll. As Danny hits the ground, the rings fade away, and he remains untransformed.

"Oh no you aren't" Dan growls, hovering menacingly over him. His demeanor shifts suddenly, and he smiles malevolently down at Danny, "Oh this looks familiar...This reminds me of when I got rid of my goodly little human side so many years ago."

Danny gawks up at his older evil self, his face filled with the pain of having been slammed into the ground. "But...but you can't kill me..." he stutters.

Dan throws his head back and laughs, a sound devoid of any real humor, then his eyes lock into Danny's, dead serious. "You don't get it, do you? I'M STILL HERE! But since you don't turn into me anymore, that means you're worthless!" He draws back a glowing hand, preparing to strike...

"NO!"

A searing red blast catches Dan in his side, throwing him to the ground away from Danny.

Dan and Danny both turn, startled, to face the awesome spectacle of a VERY...ANGRY... Vlad Plasmius stepping down out of the wedding arch _(see image)_. Normally calm and collected, Plasmius now appears to be, almost literally, burning with rage. Danny gawks wide-eyed as Plasmius stalks purposefully past him, toward Dan.

Never taking his seething gaze from Dan for an instant, Plasmius addresses Danny, "Stand down, Daniel. It's time to let the adults fight." Danny nods mutely and scrambles backwards away from the coming fight. Dan leaps back into the air, hands alight.

"Bring it on, cheesehead!"

_The sheer awesomeness of the following fight is too great to be described in mere words. (sorry for the cop-out)_

At the very climax of the battle, Plasmius, yelling out in rage, has Dan pinned down to the ground with one hand, the other hand clenched in a burning fist, just about to strike a finishing blow.

"Time out"

Clockwork floats across the frozen scene of devastation over to Danny and hangs a time medallion around his neck. Danny blinks several times in confusion. "Wh...wha...what's going on?" he finally manages, "What are you doing here?"

Clockwork smiles back at him in an unruffled manner, "Just tying up some loose ends."

Danny's brow furrows, trying to take in the hugeness of this tiny bit of information, "You planned all this?"

Clockwork turns away and calmly regards the mayhem on the field for a moment before answering. "The Vlad you knew could never have defeated your older self, and the thermos in which Dan was trapped would not have lasted long enough for you to grow old and strong enough to face him. By influencing certain events, and his dreams, I merely allowed Vlad to see the face of true evil...an evil his former ways helped to make. By giving him a glimpse into what could have been, I have provided him a way to fix what has been done.

Danny frowned indignantly at Clockwork's back, "Was this all just a game to you?"

Still facing the field, Clockwork quietly responds, "Even your perceived arch-enemy can become a much-needed ally when pushed to their limit and fighting for a cause you both believe in. Or do you remember nothing from your experience with Pariah Dark?" At Clockwork's words, Danny's memory suddenly floods with the brief image of all his supposed 'foes' united to help him beat the Ghost King.

As Danny ponders that, Clockwork turns to face him with a slow knowing smile. "And it is never 'just a game' to me Danny."

"Time in."

Danny finds himself staring at an empty space where Clockwork had been. Vlad's yell breaks the momentary silence, followed fast by a shriek from Dan...then everything slowly fades away into the cool early evening air.


	7. Epilogue

_Epilogue_

Clean-up crews move about the field picking up smashed chairs and repairing the broken ground while EMTs tend to the wounded guests. Jack and Maddie talk to TV crews, and the faint sounds can be heard of Penelope Spectra alternately ranting and weeping about her ruined ceremony. A rather battered, but again normal looking, Vlad Masters and Danny stand together off to the side of the field watching.

Danny turns to Vlad with a skeptical expression, "I can't believe you're letting my dad take the credit for this."

Without turning from the field, Vlad arches one eyebrow and smiles cryptically. "The last time I checked, Daniel, this whole mess was the product of your father's obsession with ghosts."

Danny ponders that a moment, then nods in agreement, "Ok, good point...but," he scowls and points a finger at Vlad, "you've been toying with me, haven't you?"

Vlad turns to face Danny, eyebrow still raised, and responds. "Every one of your victories, Daniel, you have earned."

Danny's only answer is his own raised eyebrow and an "Umm...", followed by a finger pointing at the wreckage left of a former football field.

"Oh...that." Vlad nods in understanding, then turns back to the field again, smiling, "Just because you didn't accept my original offer, doesn't mean that I've given up on you."

Danny ponders that unexpected bit of information over for a moment, then shoots back, "Well, don't think this means I'll start trusting you."

Vlad smiles sinisterly, a hint of the old Vlad Danny knew so well returning to his face, "Don't think this means you should, Little Badger."

End.


End file.
